Teen Slashers Revisited

I was able to find every movie on the list except one, 'Black Christmas', so I still can't comment on it, but it might be awhile before I find it available anywhere, so I am just going to go through the rest of the list and give my two cents because I am good at that. I also left in comments from the movies I had already seen before I rented the others (Scream, Nightmare on Elm Street, and Halloween)

10. The Slumber Party Massacre (1982)
I thought this one was pretty decent as far as teen slasher flicks and fit the genre perfectly. It was the first time though that I had seen a killer move so quickly when chasing his victims, I think after the Michael Myers/Jason Vorhees Era, we're used to the big bad lumbering killers who always get their victims, no matter how slowly they themselves move throughout the entire movie. Plus, the dude talked! Not a whole lot, but more than Jason or Michael, who of course don't speak. I think this one was probably one of my favorites and if you like the teen slasher flicks, definitely see this one.

9. Scream (1996)
I love this movie, and actually liked its sequels too, though the article kind of bashes them a little bit. I thought it was a good update on the genre, but how can you not like a movie Wes Craven works on, the man is one of the kings of scary movies. Granted, it took from movies that came before it in this genre, but Randy actually verbalizing the rules toward the end before the bloodbath started was classic.

8. Friday the 13th (1980)
I LOVE this movie. Though I will not love any horror flick as much as I love Halloween, this one definitely comes close and I definitely see where Drake is coming from moreso now that I have seen it. The ending is perfect, with Mrs. Vorhees showing up, and then Jason at the end, it's also one of my favorite horror movies now. The body count is most definitely high enough to count as a teen slasher, and it was kind of unconventional in how the victims were killed in that in the beginning we meet Annie who is going to Camp Crystal Lake to be one of the cooks. Generally the characters you meet first at least make it to the end, but she is the first one picked off - wasn't expecting that at all. Nice touch, definitely.

7. April Fool's Day (1986)
I disagree with this being considered a 'teen slasher'. I can't say why without giving away the entire plot of the movie but I am sure you can figure it out. It's decent, but I probably wouldn't watch it again given the way it ended. It was a great plot twist, but for someone expecting 'teen slasher movies' to be just that, this one was kind of a let-down. You'll understand why once you watch it, though it was still a decent movie.

6. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
Freddy Krueger is pretty damn scary, but overall, this movie never made me scared to fall asleep. I didn't like the way or the fact that Johnny Depp got killed however. And, gross. So much blood. But I guess that's part of what makes it a slasher/horror movie, right?

5. Cabin Fever (2002)
This movie has no place whatsoever on this list. It's not a slasher movie at all, in any way shape or form. Horror movie yes, slasher movie, no. Generally when you think slasher, you think killers like Michael Myers and Jason Vorhees coming up with ingenious yet gruesome ways to kill people. This movie did not do that at all. It's not a terrible movie, it just does not fit on this list, especially not before Friday the 13th. If movies like this are going to be included, then 'Carrie' should definitely have had a spot as well, even though it is not a slasher. Drake argued the point that 'Carrie' was much more supernatural though, which I agree with, but isn't coming back from the dead (cough *Jason/Freddy/Michael* cough) supernatural also? It was mostly about this disease that was making skin fall off, very gross, I gagged a little, and some people got shot, but that certainly doesn't make it a slasher. Decent movie, but not one for this list.

4. Black Christmas (1974)
Haven't seen yet. And this is the one I really wanted to get!!!!!

3. The Funhouse (1981)
I think this one was the most boring movie on the whole list. For the most part I agree that it was a slasher flick, nothing terribly outright gruesome which was nice because I don't like blood and gore (and yet I love horror movies, go figure). It also had kind of a supernatural feel to it only in terms of the killer. Maybe supernatural isn't the right word, but the killer definitely wasn't human. Basically, it was this nasty, deformed, alien looking dude and was so gross. I guess I wouldn't recommend it just because I thought it was more boring than anything else, but go for it if you want to try anyway.

2. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
I have not actually seen the original, though I have the remake and I like it, but I have to be in a certain mood to want to watch it, plus it usually has to be day light out and people have to be in the house with me. I think this has something to do with the fact that I refer to the basement in my apartment as the 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre basement'. Swear to God, if you have not seen the staircase that leads downstairs from our kitchen, all you have to do is watch the opening scenes from the remake when the cops are doing the walk-through, and you will see that is what my basement currently looks like.

Okay, saw the original now and I think my opinion is just tainted because I saw the remake first (and had to then live for months with Silas and Adam making chainsaw noises outside the window every time I was trying to go to sleep, thanks guys). I didn't mind this one at all, and it wasn't as gory as I expected, given that Tobe Hooper directed it - he also directed 'The Funhouse', so I don't know why that one was so boring. Anyway, it was creepy and freaked me out at times just by how weird the characters were, like the hitchhiker they pick up - that scenario ends waaaaaaay differently than in the remake. If you only have seen the remake, you have to see this one too, it definitely belongs on the list. Leatherface gives me the creeps.

1. Halloween (1978)
Michael Myers is the biggest badass of the horror movie genre in my opinion. Drake and I go back and forth about who would win between Freddy and Jason and Michael. I maintain hands down that Michael would win. He scares the shit out of me. I think what is scariest about him for me is that, in the original anyway, he wasn't dead. Here is this fucked up little kid who murders his sister when he is 8 years old, and he spends the next 15 years of his life in a nuthouse until he escapes. He was alive before he started killing people, unlike Freddy and Jason. And Jason's mother was the original killer anyway, and Freddy was dead when he started coming back in the dreams. I guess it almost seems like that one could actually happen for real (though very unlikely), whereas Jason and Freddy started killing people after they'd already died.